So, winter has finally arrived here in London, Ontario. While many other parts of Canada have been enveloped with snow and sub-zero temps, we have been blessed with unseasonably (and mildly disconcerting) high temperatures. Christmas Eve, it was actually hovering in the mid teens (high fifties, for those of you who do Fahrenheit!)
Because of this, the late fall-early winter running has been awesome!
Lately, however, I find that most of my running has been relegated to the weekends---it seems that by the time I get home from work, there are either too many other things to do or I am simply too tired. The change back to standard time also would have me running in the dark, not my fave thing to do anymore. This, of course, will not do and I hereby resolve to force myself to get out there on the occasional (and regular) weeknight.
The scales tell me that the holiday season was not as bad as it has been in years past but they have also gently reminded me that all is not as it should be and that it's time to get back to work. Sound familiar, anyone??
I suppose a significant thing to report is that I seem to have fallen off the vegetarian wagon. Well, I didn't actually fall off, it more or less exploded from underneath me, bits and pieces of the wagon flying all over the place. I, of course, am struggling with this, but that's probably a whole other blog post...
I have also decided to take a slightly different approach to my running. There was a time back in the fall when I was running pretty regularly and my times for the 5K (my distance of preference) were dramatically falling. This, of course, took much effort and it got to the point where I was totally exhausted at the end of a run and if I hadn't bettered my time by at least a few seconds then it was also a wasted run. It got to the point where I was dreading going out, knowing the stress I was about to put my body under. This was probably foolishness.
My new approach now has me going out for a run with no expectations whatsoever as to what my time might be. I also try and run slowly enough that I can do the whole thing without need of a walk break. This has meant really slow runs! My hope, though, is that by not scaring myself into not running, that I will actually get more running in. Then, gradually (and hopefully), the times will come down all on their own. This sounds do-able!
Okay, so now for a bit of a photo dump~random pics from the last few weeks, some of which have nothing to do with running!
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| First run in the snow this winter! |
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| The incredible "Penis Potato"---further proof of the ravages of GMOs.... |
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| Two of my stepsons now have vehicles. This is what our 2-car driveway looks like, every other week! |
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| The amazing "Upside-Down Backwards Book" You can read about it here |
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| Puffer decided to come to rest on top of our pile of Santa hats---so we took advantage of the opportunity! |
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| Cat and Buddha(s)! Woke up from a nap, looked down and this is what I saw! |
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| My regular 5K run happens to take me past this house every time out. This also happens to be the house my wife grew up in and is just a bit of a reminder while I'm out running as to how lucky I am! |
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| Back in the summer, we decided to totally -re-do our front garden. There used to be all these big bushes we could string our Christmas lights on but now, with all the bushes gone, we needed to improvise. So I took some dead evergreen branches from our backyard and "planted" them in our front garden. Then I hung Xmas lights from them! Kind of a Charlie Brown sort of theme! So there you have it, a bit of an update and a handful of pics I might have used in blogs past, if I'd ever gotten around to it! And while I'm at it, would like to take the opportunity to wish you all a Happy New Year and hoping that 2016 brings only wonderful things! |
Thanks Brian. Glad to have time to catch up.
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